MASSENA, N.Y. (July 11, 2022) – Boater Gary Miller of Stouffville, Ontario, caught five bass Saturday weighing 28 pounds, 14 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Tournament on the St. Lawrence River. The tournament was the third event for the Bass Fishing League Northeast Division. Miller earned $3,990 for his victory.
“We made a pretty long, 65- to 70-mile run, down to Lake Ontario to some spots I had picked out during pre-fishing,” Miller said. “Every spot I stopped at worked out, and I got a big fish on each one. And that really made up the bag that I weighed in.”
Miller said clear and sunny weather helped him succeed in the tournament. Miller said he relied on a hair jig and a Ned rig to land his six fish of the day, all of which were keepers.
“I was targeting big fish only, so pretty early on I knew I had a pretty good bag,” Miller said. “Most of my fish were over five pounds, so I knew it was a pretty good bag for this time of year.
“Any time you have a day like that you have to be pretty happy about it,” Miller added. “It doesn’t always go that way.”
Miller’s win was also the first Major League Fishing event he had fished, and said it was nice to have the effort he put into preparing for the tournament pay off.
“The event was very organized and easy to fish,” Miller said. “It was a pleasure to fish with MLF and made the win even better.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Gary Miller, Stouffville, Ontario, five bass, 28-14, $3,990
2nd: Jesse Spellicy, Gouverneur, N.Y., five bass, 24-13, $2,273 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
3rd: Matt Dobson, Millbrook, Ontario, five bass, 23-3, $1,181
4th: Alec Morrison, Peru, N.Y., five bass, 22-5, $827
5th: James Ciferni, Hammond, N.Y., five bass, 22-0, $909
6th: Jack Dice, Lynchburg, Va., five bass, 21-7, $620
6th: Brian Campbell, Uniontown, Pa., five bass, 21-7, $620
8th: Brad Paradis, Ogdensburg, N.Y., five bass, 20-15, $532
9th: Rick Harris, Kingsland, Texas, five bass, 20-4, $473
10th: Ronald Penders Jr., Webster, N.Y., five bass, 20-2, $414
Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Miller also caught the heaviest bass of the tournament – 6 pounds, 6 ounces, to earn the day’s Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $445. Toby Steele of Ten Mile, Tennessee, won the Strike King Co-angler Division and $1,973 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 21 pounds, 15 ounces.
The top 10 Strike King co-anglers were:
1st: Toby Steele, Ten Mile, Tenn., five bass, 21-15, $1,973
2nd: Frank Garcia, Cranford, N.J., five bass, 17-11, $886
3rd: Daniel Miguel, Ajax, Ontario, five bass, 16-4, $591
4th: Bradley Petrie, Johnstown, N.Y., five bass, 16-1, $414
5th: Jeff Turner, Plainfield, Ill., five bass, 15-14, $355
6th: Tyler Anderson, York, S.C., five bass, 15-9, $325
7th: Michael Fox, East Greenville, Pa., five bass, 15-7, $295
8th: Robert Hockley, Annville, Pa., five bass, 15-0, $366
9th: Justin Thompson, Stafford, Va., five bass, 14-11, $236
10th: Lazarus Durham, Dumfries, Va., five bass, 14-9, $357
Michael Bahnweg of Union Dale, Pennsylvania, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 5 pounds, 8 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Berkley Big Bass Co-angler award of $222.
After three events, Ernie Freeman of Broad Run, Virginia, leads the Bass Fishing League Northeast Division Boater Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 714 points, while Richard Jensen of Virginia Beach, Virginia, leads the Strike King Co-Angler Division AOY race with 706 points.
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